Detour
by SeaSpectre160
Summary: Rip Hunter gets a call from the team in 2024 with some astonishing news. 'Destiny' fix-it, Captain Canary. Fourteenth in 'Long Way Home'.


**So here's that fix-it I've been promising! I just managed to finish writing in time to post before going to work. It took me a while to come up with a way to do it that hasn't been done by another fic.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Legends of Tomorrow or any other elements of the Arrowverse. Michael, Laurie, and Izzy are my OCs, and Megan is just a random name.**

 **WORD COUNT: 6899**

* * *

Rip Hunter wasn't certain what to do with himself after Vandal Savage was defeated. Even when he'd first recruited his team, he hadn't known what he would do. If the Time Masters were to continue to pursue him after he saved his family, where could he have hidden? Would he have had to condemn Miranda and Jonas to living as fugitives?

As it stood, he didn't have to worry about that, because he couldn't even save his wife and son.

Now, with everything said and done, the Time Masters were in utter disarray with their headquarters destroyed, many Time Captains unaware of what crimes their superiors had committed. Rip had been in contact with Eve Baxter, and had explained everything. She'd been skeptical at first, but she'd eventually come around, and was spreading the news among the Captains that hadn't perished at the Vanishing Point (at least four Captains had been killed when Mr. Snart had blown up the Oculus, according to Gideon).

Meanwhile, he'd deposited his surviving seven recruits back home in May 2016. He'd given them all the option of helping him reform the Time Masters, but after everything they'd been through, they more than deserved a break, to be with their own families. He parked the Waverider in a Central City warehouse he rented with forged documents courtesy of Gideon, and split his time between the ship and S.T.A.R. Labs.

Ms. Saunders and the reincarnated Mr. Hall (who insisted on going by his name from that life instead of his current one) were attempting to give their relationship a fresh start. Dr. Palmer busied himself with helping Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak cover Star City while the rest of Team Arrow took some time off after an exceptionally trying year. Mr. Jackson and Professor Stein were working with Team Flash to help deal with metahuman crime, relieving some the pressure on Barry Allen, who was still mourning the loss of his father. Mr. Rory and Ms. Lance traveled to Coast City, to locate Lisa Snart and inform her of her brother's death, before returning to Central so that Sara could stay with her mother and properly mourn her own sister.

He'd been going over the latest notification Captain Baxter sent him, about the latest Time Captain she'd approached, when the Waverider received an incoming transmission from the year 2024. Grateful that no one else was on board at the time, he answered, and was surprised at the face that appeared on the screens. "Dr. Palmer?!"

Ray grinned back at him with a subdued smile that had less 'dorkiness' (as Sara had defined it) than usual. "Hi, Rip! Greetings from the year 2024!"

"How- how did you manage to contact me from a different time?!"

"Oh, I've had a few years of practice. We need you to come and pick something up."

Rip frowned, wondering what Ray wanted him to fetch, and what he expected the Time Captain to do with it. "Please tell me you're not asking me to be your own personal temporal delivery service."

"More like a taxi service. We've got an accidental visitor who doesn't belong in this time, so we need you to take him back to his proper time."

Well, that sounded like a reasonable request. Rip notified S.T.A.R. Labs that he'd be taking a (hopefully) short trip and left for Central City on May 4th, 2024. He landed in the S.T.A.R. Labs parking lot per Dr. Palmer's instructions, and found a small delegation waiting for him. Aside from Dr. Palmer, he was thrilled to recognise Prof. Stein and Mr. Ramon. The three of them looked rather sombre, but if he recalled the date correctly, it was only ten days after Barry Allen had disappeared, chasing Eobard Thawne through time. It was only natural for them to still be reeling from the loss, but Rip made no comment on it.

After the initial greetings, the three men immediately led him into the building. It hadn't seemed to have changed much, at least until he heard the sound of children laughing down one hall, followed by a loud crashing noise.

"Everything okay down there?" Ray called, sounding only mildly concerned.

"We're fine!" a voice that sounded like Mr. Jackson's replied, "Megan just got a little carried away!"

Rip was a little uncertain, but his escorts kept walking. "Megan's one of the students here," Mr. Ramon explained, "We opened up a little metahuman-school here when second-gen metas, kids of people who got powers when the Accelerator blew, started developing their own powers. It's one thing for adults to develop powers and not know what they're doing, but little kids…"

"Parents didn't want 'meta-kids' at the schools where other children could get hurt in the event of an accident," Martin continued, "So we've opened up S.T.A.R. Labs for the purpose of helping them control their powers and maintaining their regular education. The city is working to develop a proper school for metahumans, but until then, we're doing what we can."

Rip suspected that the only reason they were being so open with this information was because he was from the future. And they were right; he did know that the first metahuman school opened in Central City.

They entered the main room, and approached Dr. Snow's 'office'. The doctor herself was standing in front of a cot, obviously tending to the person laying in it. She turned and looked up as the four men entered. "Captain Hunter," she greeted, a strained smile on her face, "I see you've come to take our guest home." She moved aside, allowing Rip to get an unobstructed view of her patient.

It was Leonard Snart.

"What on earth?"

* * *

 _Ten days ago_

"BARRY!" Hawkgirl couldn't help but scream the Scarlet Speedster's name as the wormhole closed behind him.

Barry, Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin had warned them about this, the battle with the Reverse-Flash that would end with them never seeing Barry again. They'd tried to prevent this, but as Rip had told them many, _many_ times, time wants to happen. And it wasn't like Barry could just let Thawne go and murder his younger self. So now Kendra, Ray, and Oliver were left in the middle of the street, staring in shock at where the two speedsters had been.

"No…" Iris's voice seemed about to break over the comms, "No, no, he can't be…"

It was Oliver who voiced the truth they all wanted to deny. "Barry's gone."

Kendra tried and failed to fight the tears as the other woman's cries came over the line.

The roar of flames could be heard as Firestorm came into view from around the corner of a building, Vibe and Golden Glider following behind him on foot. All came to a stop next to the other three heroes. "Damn it," Cisco cursed, sounding like he was trying not to cry himself.

They'd tried to prepare for this. Knowing this confrontation was going to happen, they'd called in every hero and sort-of-hero-type-ally they could reach in hopes of changing the outcome, but Thawne had arranged for other metas to start causing carnage and force the heroes to split up.

Lisa hugged Cisco tightly, but kept watching the empty spot in front of them, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. They all knew something else was going to happen, like the universe was going to make up for the loss of one hero by restoring another.

They all looked up, but said nothing as Captain Cold and White Canary approached them, wearing stone faces instead of showing their grief openly. Like Lisa, they watched the empty space expectantly, but after five minutes, then ten, in which their other allies began trickling onto the scene, still nothing happened.

"What if something's changed?" Lisa asked fearfully.

" _He's_ still here," Ray pointed out, gesturing to Len, "Maybe we just have to wait a little while longer."

Len himself scowled, walking towards the empty space that no one else dared to venture into. As soon as he got within a few feet of where the wormhole had appeared, it very suddenly reopened, violently spitting out a dark-clothed figure and a spurt of blue flames. The person crashed into Len at high speed and sent them both flying several feet before crashing and skidding several more across the cracked pavement.

"Len!" Sara cried, running over. A winded groan told her that her husband was conscious. He tried to sit up, but the heavy weight on his chest made that impossible. When she actually got a look at the person on top of him, she sucked in a breath. They knew who would be coming out of that portal, but that still didn't stop the shock that came from seeing an eight-years-younger Leonard Snart sprawled on top of the older one. His hands, face, and clothes were scorched from the blue flames, and he was barely conscious, his eyes half-lidded and unfocused.

"It's him," Carter stated the obvious, "Just like Rip said." He and Mick immediately approached and pulled the younger Len off the older one, checking to see what kind of shape he was in.

Sara helped Len sit up. "You okay?" she asked.

"Better than the first time around," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. He glanced over, knowing that his past self was going to pass out in mere seconds. His memories of this day were very fuzzy, for rather obvious reasons.

Sure enough, when Ray gathered up the younger Snart to fly him back to S.T.A.R. Labs, the man's eyes were closed and his features slack. The explosion of the Oculus hadn't killed him, but the heat and the force of the blast hadn't left him completely unscathed, either. Len glanced down at his hands; the faint remains of the burns were still there. As Ray flew off, he frowned. "Did the shrinking shmuck really just carry me off bridal style?" he complained softly.

* * *

Leonard Snart was 95% certain that he was dead. He'd been pressed right up against a machine rewired into a huge-ass _bomb_ ; what other possible outcome could there be? He was fully expecting some sort of hell awaiting him. Maybe he'd have to spend eternity as his father's punching bag again. Maybe something involving molten lava, or something else that was really hot. Or maybe it would be the opposite: eternally freezing to 'death' in a cruel twist of irony. Or hell, why not simultaneously freezing and burning while getting the crap beat out of him forever and ever and ever?

But that didn't come. Instead, he saw flashes of seemingly random things. A female green-hooded archer in a forest. A woman in a house screaming as red and yellow lightning danced around her. A little girl beaming at a caged bird. A guy in a red hoodie snatching a young woman's purse. He had never seen them before, didn't know what they meant. But gradually, these images were replaced by ones of people he did recognise, even if he hadn't witnessed most of the scenes himself. Oliver Queen kneeling over a dying man in a crumbled, burning building. Mick pouring Yuri the Bear's vodka into glasses for the team. Sara lying on the floor with a strange symbol drawn beneath her. Caitlin Snow and an unfamiliar man, both in wedding attire, standing before Stein. Savage killing Kendra and Carter in Ancient Egypt. Kendra and Ray dancing in their 'home' while undercover in the fifties. The famous Black Canary, Sara's big sister, getting stabbed with an arrow by Damien Darhk. Sara kissing a beautiful dark-haired woman. Young Lisa curled up on the floor with a bloody gash on her shoulder. Sara and himself playing cards. A black-suited speedster thrusting his hand through a man's chest while Barry screamed. Cisco hugging his brother Dante. Sara rising from that pool of water in Nanda Parbat. Baby Lisa being placed into his arms for the first time. Mick strangling a rat in the middle of that godforsaken forest.

They came at him faster and faster, blurring together until it reached the point that he couldn't identify them. It felt like all the air was being sucked from his lungs as he was free-falling from a great height, until he suddenly slammed into something solid and crashed.

Everything hurt. His hands, head, and chest especially. Hands grabbed him and pulled him off whatever he'd landed on; his head was pounding too hard for him to figure out what that was, and he felt too weak and exhausted to move. He could hear voices around him, but they were muted, as if he were underwater. Then he gave into the exhaustion, and let the darkness swallow him up.

When he came to again, the pain had dulled, the familiar loopy feeling that came from copious amounts of painkillers becoming apparent. It took a while for his dazed and drugged brain to put the pieces together, but obviously someone had found him and was taking care of him. Which was strange, because he didn't think there would be anything of him left to find, much less take care of (because that implied that he survived, which shouldn't be at all possible).

"Are you sure this will work?"

Voices again. Familiar ones. He had to know what was going on. Where was he? How was he alive?

"Positive. We just need to take into account the time coordinates of June 2016 when we make the call."

He managed to open his eyes, only to be nearly blinded by the lights overhead. He screwed them shut again with a wince.

"You say that as if it's as simple as punching in a specific code."

He tried turning his head, hoping it wouldn't be as bright in that direction. The movement was more of a chore than it should have been, and made the pounding in his head even worse, made him feel like he was going to throw up. He groaned.

"Well, theoretically-"

"Guys? I think he's waking up." A female voice cut off the two men, sounding like she was standing closer to him. The telltale click of high heels approached him. "Len? Can you hear me?"

Leonard tried again to open his eyes. He'd been right when he'd assumed that the light wouldn't be so blinding, but he still had to blink a few times before he could identify the blurry face in front of him.

Dr. Caitlin Snow sighed in relief, looking far happier to see him awake than he'd ever expected. And since when did she call him 'Len'? She looked different, now that he thought about it; she'd cut her hair much shorter, but she also looked a little older. "You had us all worried. Do you remember what happened?" As she spoke, Caitlin checked the readouts on various machines that Leonard realised were connected to him by various tubes and wires.

He remembered the Vanishing Point. He remembered the Oculus. He remembered staring Druce down right before the machine blew. But he wasn't sure how much Dr. Snow knew.

Before he could even try to say anything, another person came into his field of vision. It was Raymond, beaming at the sight of him. "Snart! Good to see you awake!"

Stein appeared next to him. "Indeed. You gave us quite the scare. Can you recall what happened to you?"

This time, Leonard was given time to speak. "The Oculus," he breathed, startled at how quiet and raspy his voice sounded, "I remember-" He had to pause when a cough interrupted him, his throat feeling like it hadn't been used in days, but the others waited patiently for him to continue. "I remember the failsafe. Mick… are Mick and Sara okay?"

Stein gave him a kind smile. "They got out just fine, Mr. Snart. It's you we were worried about."

"How… How did I…"

"Survive?" Ray filled in. "It's a funny story, actually."

"You and I have very different definitions of 'funny'," Caitlin remarked.

"See, since you were standing right next to the Oculus when it blew, it threw you through time, and you landed here."

"There's just one little problem," Stein admitted, "I'm afraid you've landed in the wrong time."

It took Leonard a bit of time to process this information. Of course, with all his earlier experiences with superpowers and time-travel, it didn't take as long as it would have for a normal person with a normal life. A machine that controlled time tossing him through the time stream? Sure, why not?

"We're working on a way to contact Rip," Ray assured him, "so he can take you back to 2016 after we've defeated Savage."

* * *

Being blown up and tossed through time was more exhausting than one might think. Leonard drifted back to sleep shortly after he first woke. When he regained consciousness again, he was allowed to sit up and have something to eat, but spent most of his time over the next few days sleeping. He never saw anyone other than Caitlin, the Nerd Twins, and Cisco as he recuperated, and they told him very little about what had happened between his time and theirs (he only knew he'd landed in 2024 because Ray accidentally let it slip when he didn't know Leonard was awake). He also got the feeling that something bad had happened recently, and they were still recovering.

Then, on his third day after waking up, he got a startling glimpse of the future. He woke up to the sound of children's voices, talking in hushed tones that were trying and failing to be whispers.

"We shouldn't be here! Uncle Cisco said so!"

"Just a quick look! Uncle Cisco won't know!"

He slowly cracked one eye open to see a trio of small children shuffling into the Cortex. One boy and two girls. The boy looked to be about five years old and had blonde hair, one of the girls had thick, black curls and appeared about the same age. But the littlest child, maybe about two or three years old, was a shocker. Her hair was black like the first girl's, and her complexion gave her a Latino appearance, though he couldn't be sure. But other than that, she looked just like Lisa had as a little kid.

The boy looked around nervously. They didn't seem to have noticed Leonard yet. "They'll be back soon," he whispered loudly, "C'mon, Laurie, let's just go!"

The older girl, 'Laurie', ignored him and looked around curiously. "I don't see anything in here. Where's the secret thing?"

It was then that Leonard realised that the kids must've been warned away from this area because he was there. Because they weren't allowed to know about him.

"Someone's coming!" the littler girl gasped as footsteps sounded from outside.

"What do you think you're doing here?!" Cisco marched in, looking half-angry and half-panicked. The three children scattered and tried to hide behind the various equipment, but Cisco scooped the littlest girl up easily and glared at the main desk where Laurie and the boy were hiding. "Laurel, Michael. You know you're not supposed to be in here this week." Michael crawled out, eyes on the floor, but Laurel stayed put. Cisco glanced across the room to meet Leonard's eyes, seeing he was awake. He quickly drew the children's attention back onto himself. "Laurel, I know you're under there. You want me to tell your mother you snuck in here?"

Wasn't Laurel the name of Sara's sister?

That seemed to do the trick. The little girl came from her hiding place, but unlike Michael, she crossed her arms and gave what was supposed to be a threatening glare, but on her little face it looked more cute than scary. Still, there was something familiar about it…

"How come we can't come in here?" she demanded, "It's not fair."

"It's just for the rest of the week," Cisco told her sternly, "There's nothing interesting going on, anyway."

"Then why can't we come in here anymore?!" Laurel scowled deeper and stomped her foot in frustration.

Cisco sighed heavily. "Because your parents said so. How about we _go_ and ask them?"

Little Laurel wasn't so easily swayed. "Why're you keeping a secret from us? You let us know other stuff."

Leonard doubted the S.T.A.R. Labs crew trusted this little one with all their secrets. But he also doubted she knew that.

"Papá, tengo hambre," the younger girl suddenly piped up loudly from Cisco's arms.

'Papá'. The tiny girl who looked so much like Lisa was calling Cisco Ramon 'Papá'. The younger man gave Leonard a panicked look, confirming his suspicions. Well, damn. But why did the little boy also refer to him as their Uncle? Was it an honourary thing, like he was just a friend of their parents' or something?

"You know what, Izzy's got the right idea," Cisco said quickly, "Who wants ice cream?"

Izzy clapped her hands at the I-word, and Michael jumped up and down. But Laurel, evidently, was too smart to buy into the distraction. "I wanna know what you're hiding!"

A painfully familiar female voice suddenly echoed from down the hall. "Laurel?! Michael?!" The sound of her voice elicited a reaction that Cisco hadn't managed yet. Laurel looked panicked and ashamed. Like she'd been caught doing something wrong.

"We're coming!" Cisco called, "Right?" The question was directed to the kids, as he gestured for them to walk out with him. Evidently, this woman had more authority over her than Cisco did, because this time, Laurel conceded, and even led the way out of the room, though not without stomping mutinously all the way down the hall. The young techie gave Leonard one last look before ushering the kids out of there.

* * *

When Rip showed up ten days after Leonard arrived in 2024, he'd mostly recovered from being blown up and flung through time and space. It was disconcerting to think that that was part of his new idea of normal.

He'd been thinking a lot about those children. He was positive that Izzy was Cisco and Lisa's daughter, but wasn't sure about the other two kids. Laurel had to be connected to Laurel Lance in some way, either a relative or the daughter of a friend. But there was something familiar about her and Michael. No one would answer any of his questions regarding them, though. It seemed that Rip's constant insistence against messing with the timeline had finally stuck, but Ray put it best:

"Put simply, there are things in time we would like to change, and some things we would do anything to maintain. What you're asking about falls into the second category."

It seemed that Izzy's existence fell into that category, too. Cisco all but begged Leonard not to kill his younger self and wipe her out of existence. Leonard promised, saying he wasn't going to delete his apparent niece from the timeline (he didn't say this out loud, but Cisco was worlds better than Lisa's past choices of boyfriend, and Izzy looked too much like her mother for Leonard to want anything to happen to her).

By the time Rip came, though, Leonard was more than ready to get out of there. He was sick of being cooped up in the one room, save for bathroom trips, and sick of not being allowed to see anyone. He wanted to go home and see his sister, to let his team know he was alright, and to see Sara. He still wanted to know what the future might hold for them, now that he knew he would have the chance.

"What on earth?" Rip gasped when he saw Leonard, "How is this possible?"

Leonard smirked. "Apparently getting blown up by a time-manipulating machine doesn't have the same effect as getting blown up by a normal bomb." He tuned out the Geek Squad's overly-technical explanation of how he'd been blasted back home, but just to the wrong year. Really, though, he counted himself lucky that he'd landed in a time when the people he knew were still alive, and able to help him. Otherwise he'd be stuck in the wrong time period.

There was no one around as they slowly made their way back to the Waverider. Leonard staunchly refused to be pushed around in a wheelchair, so the others followed as he made his way slowly and carefully through the halls on foot. He was still weak and exhausted, but he was adamant on continuing. Rip insisted on taking him to the Med Bay instead of time-jumping immediately. Gideon finished healing the burns on his hands, neck, and face where the flames from the explosion had scorched bare skin, and declared him healthy enough for time-travel.

So Rip thanked the future versions of his crew and company, and prepared for launch. Leonard was not looking forward to the time-jump, but as said before, he really wanted to go home, so he strapped himself in without much complaint. He did, however, grill Rip for details regarding his entire team's fate and whether or not they defeated Savage. Rip insisted that all of them were safe, even Carter, and that they'd managed to kill Savage not once, but three different times in three different time periods. They still weren't sure how the timeline didn't fold in on itself, especially since two of those periods were before 2015, yet everyone who fought Savage in December of that year remembered him, but they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

This time-jump, despite covering only eight years and being the shortest one Leonard had ever been on, seemed to affect him more than any other. It was probably because he hadn't fully recovered from the Oculus explosion, but when they landed in 2016, he didn't even have the strength to lift the restraining bar off himself. Rip had to practically carry him back to the Med Bay, where he promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Sara was the last person to arrive after Rip called them all back to the Waverider. She'd been up all night, having nightmares of Leonard and Laurel's deaths, so much that her mother had had to give her something to put her to sleep for several hours. Physically, she felt marginally better when she woke up, but she was still drained, both mentally and emotionally.

Laurel had brought her back to life. That was no small thing; her big sister had brought her back from the dead and fought so hard to make her whole again. This after Sara had betrayed her in some of the worst ways possible, had destroyed their family with her selfishness and made Laurel's life hell for years before coming back and stirring things up again. And when Sara had been questioning whether she could ever be herself again, whether she could _not_ feel like a monster, Laurel had encouraged her to take up this mission, to find herself again.

It had turned out to be their last conversation, because her sister was dead when Sara returned home.

Leonard hadn't even blinked when Sara had informed him that she'd been dead for a year. He hadn't looked sideways at her when she got in a testy mood, like she was going to snap and go all Bloodlust on them. And in Russia, when she'd almost fallen back into her old ways, he'd fought to keep her on the path to redemption, something he'd claimed to not even want for himself. But as far as Sara was concerned, that action had taken him a few steps down that path as well. He'd made her feel normal, _human_ again, with their casual card games and witty banter. And then one day he'd come into her room, just hours after pulling his gun on her in an argument, and apologised before basically confessing that he had feelings for her.

And she'd pushed him away. That had turned out to be their last conversation, aside from their one kiss right before he went and got himself killed to save them all.

Thoughts of guilt and blame and what ifs plagued her all throughout her waking hours and whenever she tried to sleep. There would be a brief second where she'd wake up and forget what had happened, then she'd spot a picture of Laurel or the ring that had belonged to Snart that now rested on her own finger, and it would all come back, as if she'd lost them all over again.

She was fiddling with that ring when she entered the bridge, startled a bit at all the noise and the sheer volume of bodies in the room. Aside from the rest of the team, Rip had gathered Lisa and Team Flash as well. What could possibly be going on?

"Can I have your attention?" Rip called, having to raise his voice over Cisco's geeking over the time ship and Kendra and Carter having yet another argument. "Good. Now, I know you're all wondering why I called you all here. About an hour ago, I received a transmission from you, Dr. Palmer, in the year 2024."

"Me?" Ray asked, "Why would I call you from that time period?"

"Because it appears that we were premature in declaring one of our own dead. When I arrived, I found that Mr. Snart was alive." Sara was stunned speechless, unable to believe what she was hearing. However, others didn't have that problem, as Rip suddenly became inundated with several overlapping queries of how that was possible. "Alright, alright, settle down, please!"

"This had better not be some kind of twisted joke," Mick threatened.

"You know perfectly well that I wouldn't joke about this, Mr. Rory. It seems that when the Oculus exploded, Mr. Snart was thrown through time and landed in the relatively near future, right here in Central City, and right in front of many of you in that time. Your future selves managed to contact me to come and bring him back to his proper time. He is in the Med Bay right now; it seems he has not yet recovered completely, as the time-jump did quite a number on him."

Mick didn't need any prompting; as soon as the words 'Med Bay' left Rip's mouth, he took Lisa by the arm and began to lead the way, nudging Sara along while he was at it. Still numb from shock, she followed. She could hear Rip protesting about having too many people going to see Leonard at once, though it seemed to be directed at the crowd that tried to follow the three of them, the three that Leonard was closest to and who deserved to see him more than anyone else.

Lisa burst into sobs as soon as she saw her brother, fast asleep on one of the beds, and ran to his side. Mick followed a few steps but stayed back, while Sara froze in the doorway. He was alive. Leonard Snart was alive and breathing right in front of her.

So many emotions flooded through her. Relief, anger, confusion, and many others she couldn't even identify. She barely even noticed the tears that had begun to run down her face, just continued to stare at him. After some unknown period of time, Mick glanced at her over his shoulder, taking in her expression before coming over and leading her to a chair next to the bed.

They barely said a word over the next few hours, until Lisa nearly fell asleep in her chair and Gideon quietly suggested that they go and get some rest, as it had already been rather late when Rip had called them there. They had protested at first, but Lisa actually did fall asleep minutes later, so Mick had scooped her up and told Sara he was going to put her in Leonard's old room. Sara told him to get some rest as well, and that she would stay with Leonard. To keep him and Gideon happy, she curled up in the second bed, lying so that she was facing Leonard as he slept.

* * *

Leonard was woken by the sound of someone crying. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dim light until he recognised that he was in the Waverider's Med Bay with the lights out. His head pounded as he recalled being dragged there after the time-jump did a number on him. It was kind of embarrassing, that he could handle the 276-year jump from Kasnia to Salvation with minimal side-effects, but after an 8-year jump he was affected more severely than anyone on the team had been during this whole trip. Nobody else had passed out.

Another whimper could be heard, reminding him why he'd woken up in the first place. Who was there? In the dark room, illuminated only by the readouts on the screens, he could make out a smaller form huddled on the second bed.

"Gideon," he muttered lowly, knowing the AI could hear him, "Lights to five percent." The lights came up enough for him to see who the other person was: Sara Lance. She was curled up on the bed, asleep but not soundly. She was breathing quickly and making occasional noises of distress; obviously she was having a nightmare.

Leonard knew better than to stand too close when waking the assassin from a nightmare, but he couldn't just let her suffer through it. He sat up, pleased to note that his strength had improved somewhat. "Sara," he called, "Sara, wake up."

But Sara wasn't waking up. She twisted slightly in her sleep. "No," she gasped, "No!"

Carefully, Leonard slid off his bed and moved over to hers, even though his steps were still a little wobbly. This was a bad idea. "Sara, you need to wake up!" It was tempting fate to do so, but he grasped her shoulder and shook her. "Sara!"

There was a scream and a blur of movement, and suddenly Leonard's wrist was caught in a death grip and something cool and sharp was pressed against his throat.

Sara's eyes were wild with fear and anger, and it took several tense seconds for her to blink and take in where she was and who was standing over her. "Leonard?" she gasped, "You're…" Words seemed to fail her as she slowly lowered the knife, eyes taking in the sight of him, as if he couldn't be real.

"I'm here, Sara."

She let go of his wrist and wrapped her arms around him shakily. "If you didn't look like so much crap right now, I'd punch you _so hard_. Asshole."

He pulled her closer to him, inhaling the fruity scent of her shampoo. "I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered, "You know I couldn't let Mick die like that. Even if he would have turned out to have survived like I did."

"How did you…"

"I don't really know. When the Oculus blew, it felt like I was free-falling, then I crashed into something and passed out. When I woke up, it was in Caitlin Snow's 'office' at S.T.A.R. Labs, and she, Raymond, and Stein told me some wormhole had spat me out in front of them in 2024."

"2024? Did you learn anything about the future?"

"They wouldn't tell me much, stupid timeline-maintaining rules. But a couple kids snuck into the room after being told they weren't allowed in while I was there, and I'm positive that one is Lisa and Cisco's kid."

At this, Sara pulled away and looked at him incredulously. "And you're okay with that?"

He shrugged. "He's better than any of the other guys she's dated, to be perfectly honest, and that little girl is too cute to wipe out of existence." He took note of the dark circles under her eyes. "How have you been holding up?"

She sighed, a haunted look in her eyes. "The morning after you… after we lost you, Rip dropped up back off in 2016 and tried to go it alone. Only he left us in May, not January. When I got to the Arrow Lair I found my dad there and he told me… he told me my sister had been killed by Damien Darhk."

Leonard suddenly remembered one of the flashes he'd seen before landing in 2024: the Black Canary being stabbed by Darhk. It had been real, just as real as the scenes he'd recognised. "God," he gasped, "Sara, I'm so sorry. Can't Rip-"

"No." Her voice was shaking. "If I were to go back and try to save Laurel, I'd just get killed alongside her, and so would my dad. I can't save her."

He pulled her back to him, letting her tears soak the S.T.A.R. Labs t-shirt he'd been given. He knew how much Laurel meant to her younger sister. It wasn't fair that Sara had to lose her after everything they'd already been through. He didn't know what he would do if he lost Lisa.

By the time her sobs gradually slowed, Leonard's strength was starting to wane again. Sara noticed almost right away. "Leonard, you should rest some more. You've been through a lot these past couple of weeks."

"So have you." Still, she slid off her bed and slipped his arm around her shoulders, leading him back over to his own bed. He laid back wearily, exhausted. He hesitated. "Listen, about… right before I…"

"The kiss?" A small, embarrassed smile crept across her face, and she dropped her gaze downward. "What can I say? I guess you _are_ one hell of a thief."

"Was it just… Was it just because of the situation?" It was the one wriggling bit of doubt that had been bothering him. "Was it just because we thought I was going to die?"

She looked back up at him, fresh tears in her eyes. "No, it… It wasn't like that. When you came to me before, I was still mad about you pulling your gun on me. So I pushed you away. It wasn't fair, and when you were gone, I… All I could think about was how I wished I could go back and say something different, because I thought I would never be able to take that back." Her grip on his hand tightened. "I'm so sorry, Leonard, I should've said something different, I-"

"I'm the one who pulled a gun on you," he interrupted, "and despite what I said earlier, that _was_ in the Vanishing Point, so we can't blame the Time Bastards for anything besides the stress we were both under."

"But still, I… What I really wanted to say was that… That I'd been thinking about you, too, lately. Ever since I came back from death, I never thought I could see myself having a future with anyone. Hell, my faith in that possibility has been shaky since the _Gambit_ sank. But… I found myself starting to imagine something with you, and when you came in and started talking about the future… it was all too much. But that didn't mean I… When you were about to die, I realised that I- I wanted to try that, with you, but I'd lost my chance."

"But we've got that chance back," he said hesitantly, "If you still want…"

Her answer took his breath away. She pressed her lips against his, as urgently as their first kiss, but without that tinge of despair and desperation. Leonard froze in shock for a second, then kissed her back hungrily. He'd wondered what would happen, if she felt the same way he did. Now he knew.

The next morning, Rip would come in to check on them, and would find Sara and Leonard curled up in the same bed with their arms around each other.

THE END

* * *

 **Points to anyone who can guess at all the scenes Leonard saw while falling through the time stream. Except for the scenes involving Lisa, all have either been shown in the Arrowverse or at least mentioned.**

 **No points for guessing who Michael and Laurie are, though.**


End file.
